Timothy Judkins, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Teresa Lepchenski, University of North Texas

Sharon Castleberry, Carollton Public Library

Christine Peterson, Library Development Division, Texas State Library

William Moen, University of North Texas, Facilitator for Meeting

1) International Profile Effort

The effort to create a profile at the international level is focused on the searching of library applications. They just held a meeting in Madrid, Spain. Minutes/notes have not yet been posted, so we are not sure of the outcome(s) of that meeting. They have created a discussion list in support of this effort. It is called ZIP-PIZ-L. Instructions for subscribing:

Now that a draft of the profile has been created, vendor comments are needed to see how much is realistic. Specifically, we are looking for comments from the technical and, possibly, marketing departments. Types of vendors could include ILS vendors and Z39.50 developers. TIF now pays for Z39.50 software, so money should be available. Committee members each had a list of vendors to contact to see if they would review the draft document and if they would like to attend the next meeting in Austin.

3) Texas Library Association Conference/Dallas

Two preconferences are set. Bill Moen will be doing an introductory session on Z39.50 (very similar to the series he did for the State Library in spring 1998). Mark Hinnebusch will be presenting a much more technical session on implementing Z39.50. At the end of Mark's and Bill's session, we hope to open up the room and discuss the Texas profile with the attendees and get their feedback. Cathy Hartman will be using the NetFair to also introduction this profile and Z39.50. One of the sessions during the conference will deal with the vendor perspective on the profile. The possibility of having the Automation and Technology Roundtable create a resolution to support this effort was raised. If done, this resolution would be sent to the Executive Board during Annual Assembly.

4) Publicity

In order to publicize this profile, we identified many groups that meet infrequently and that might have an interest. Committee members will be contacting some of these groups to see if we can use their meetings to provide this information. Some of these groups include: Amigos, TCSUL, HARLIC, community college libraries, and private library groups.

A packet of information should be collected that describes our group and this process. This packet may contain information such as a cover letter, Bill's article in the upcoming Texas Library Journal, TIF's support of Z39.50, and a press release.

5) Client Functionality

From Scott Piepenburg, Sharon Castleberry, and Shelley Almgren. There are various levels of client functionality. To name four:

A) focusing on public display

B) BookWhere-type clients

C) single site at a time

D) multiple sites at a time

Possible levels for client functionality:

LEVEL 1

LEVEL 2

LEVEL 3

ATS-1 Profile

Ability to specify databases

Multiple records open simultaneously

Display USMARC for public use

Simultaneous searching of multiple databases

Ability to edit and save directly into ILS or other system

Handling failed searches in a way that provides help for the user, not a dead end

Level 2 requirements from functionality list from last meeting

Providing more technical feedback on failed searches

Ability to edit, but not save directly into ILS or other system

As you move to higher levels, more powerful client machines will be necessary.

6) Discussion of preliminary profile specifications and search requirements. Editing was done on the draft documents. Bill Moen and Cathy Hartman will post the updated documents. It is these two documents that form the nucleus of our work, and to which we want feedback from vendors.